Aura

This is really what I drank 48 hours ago at Bruery Provisions but I figured it was still worth a mention. A good assortment of Cantillon followed by Black Tuesday 2011 on-tap.

Jacob - get well on all accounts broski. Mike - good solution for the bedside rig for now Allison and I left Chicago out of Midway at 10:05 this morning. 4 hours later touched down in Orange County, CA. Got the rental car (upgrade to a new Ford Fusion, it seems quite nice) and met up with my friend Dan and his family at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. Lunch followed by gelato. Dropped Dan off at the Balboa Bay Club (where we will be staying at over the weekend) and now laying around lazily in our room in the far less ritzy Radisson Newport Beach. Anyone familiar with the area have immediate recommendations for something to go do tonight? Also, lots of $100,000 Mercedes, Porsches, and Maseratis 'round these parts.

Curious to hear your impression of this one Jeff. West Lakeview claims to have gotten a case of this in stock yesterday, but I'm not going to be able to grab it until I get back in a few weeks.

Tool - Salival. The Zeppelin No Quarter cover makes my brain go "@$*@#$*SJDF!!"

The Lost Abbey Angel's Share Bourbon Barrel 2011. I feel like I should just be drinking bourbon.

Pliny the Elder, courtesy of Al. Thanks man, this is really fantastic. From the bottle, this is likely better than Dreadnaught.

Even for someone who has refused to accept to cocktail trend, that was a cool video. Thanks Jim. Raffy - yeah it seems like Founders decided to move things a little early this year. I've been seeing Backwoods Bastard in pictures on BeerAdvocate over the past week, so it must be in the hands of most distributors by now and on the way to retailers (if not there already). It's good, better bottled than on tap imo.

Founder Backwoods Bastard. Been looking forward to this release for quite some time.

Maybe we should get together and bottle share. I could probably pop open one BT with minimal remorse.

Our group is a bunch of ballers. Seriously, awesome purchases all around. Congrats everyone! Oh and Jeff...

Both were opened near the end of the night. I didn't try the Bourbon Breakfast but I did have a decent-sized sample of the Cognac BH and I liked it. The actual Cognac character wasn't as smooth as I'd like but there was very little alcohol heat, a welcome surprise for what I was expecting. Mike - loves ya too brosef, you are the man.

Re: Matt... another one bites the dust . Currently trying to make a dent a Sun King Jungle Room growler that Jeff gifted to me. This stuff is quite good and for a 10% DIPA, I'm thinking it competes with FFF.

I am. My head fucking hurts and I woke up just as dizzy as when I passed out. Beyond that I have nothing to complain about. Gratuitous empties pics: In total we cleared 30 bottles and one growler. Highlights for me were all of the Cigar City beers, Speedway Stout (year-around? wtf), and the Heaven's Hill and Four Roses Eclipses. CBS is good, but not quite yet living up to the hype. Definitely needs age because it's lacking the balance and complexity of KBS at this point in time. Huge thanks to Jeff though for bringing one of his few remaining bottles.

It was a long but epic night. Mike G, Jeff, John, Al, Mike B, and Raffy - you guys are the best. Thanks for helping me make this happen. All in all we killed about 25-30 bottles. Pic tomorrow morning of the empties to confirm the final count.

I had seen him too, knew someone else ahead of me wouldn't miss him though.

Hellz yeah Al! Get ready for more Moloko .

Grand Teton Black Cauldron.

Sweet lord you must go conquer that tap list Al! And fax me some Cantillon while you're there.

Just got back home from Lincoln Hall. Allison and I saw the latest Guitar Masters group, currently consisting of Andy Mckee, Antoine Dufour, and Stephen Bennet. It was pretty phenomenal. Second time seeing Mckee and I'd really been wanting to see Dufour so this was a great opportunity.

You're wearing this on Saturday, right?

Happy birtfday Carl!!

Happy birthday Peter!

I'm so proud of Tyler. He wears that mohawk like a BAMF.

Happy birthday Vicki!

Big game this week in HC2, Jim v. Shelly.